


the late late show

by jilyss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, James Corden Late Late Show, Late Late Live Tinder Au, a cute little quick fic with lots of jily, tinder au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 04:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15235017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilyss/pseuds/jilyss
Summary: James and Lily meet on James Corden's Late Late Live Tinder.





	the late late show

Lily tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, adjusted her headpiece, and sat down on the couch to watch the taping of the new episode of the Late Late show with James Corden. She slid her phone out of her pocket, flipped through the scheduled program in her email to briefly review, and then shut it off. 

There was some distant chatter on her headset between Sirius, the camera man in charge of shots outside the studio, and Remus, one of the writers. She worked as the logistics manager, scheduling guests and helping organize skits with Corden and the guests. She muted the headset and focused in on the taping. 

The taping opened with James’ monologue, and then a short commercial break, and then cut to James Corden interviewing his two guests for the day - Steph Curry, a famous basketball player, and Lina Preece, an actress promoting her new movie, Lost Kingdom.

The show progressed without problems, and Lily was grateful. She had only been working for the show for a couple months after moving to the states, and although she and Corden had a good relationship, she still felt nervous every time a show aired because if something went wrong, it usually got blamed on her, thanks to a rather annoying producer named Amos Diggory. So, when James Corden announced their next segment, Live Tinder, had a cancellation, her heart started beating quickly, trying to quickly come up with other impromptu ideas to kill time. She had set up her friend, Dorcas Meadows, a software engineer to be the guinea pig for the tinder skit after hearing her many complaints about not being able to find a partner. 

Whipping out her phone, she started texting Remus frantically to see if they could move a skit from tomorrow to today in time. Suddenly, cameras appeared in her face and Marlene, another cameraman, who was sitting next to her, prodded her side. Her headset started exploding and she couldn’t figure out what was going on until Marlene pulled off the headset, pointed to the cameras and said, “you’re on hun.” 

This was not what Lily had expected at all. She was wearing a light pair of jeans and a simple white tee on top, and her hair was in a pulled back in a ponytail, with a few loose strands. She groaned and then smiled at the camera, waved her hands, and jogged to the stage. 

The lights blinded her as she walked onto the stage, where a platform in front of her was set up. A tinder screen sat in the middle, empty, and on one side sat three chairs, and on the other, a ball pit. Corden grinned at her as she walked on the stage, and then gestured widely to the audience. 

“Lily Evans here, has been working for me for almost six months now, and is currently single, right?” He looked over at her for confirmation, and she nodded. As he spoke, Sirius exchanged her headset for a microphone that she clipped to her shirt. “Now, we have 7 guys here, waiting for Lily to decide whether or not she wants to go on a date with them or not. She will narrow them down to three, and from there, choose one to go on a date with today.” 

Lily smiled hesitantly. Although she was single, she wasn’t currently looking for a relationship, content with her life at the moment, and still adjusting to Los Angeles life. “I better be getting a pay raise,” she said jokingly, and Corden squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. 

The first guy walked out - more like strutted - and introduced himself as Ryan from Texas. He had dark hair, a mustache, and was wearing a v neck shirt over a white shirt. That was all the information she had to go on, and she wasn’t a huge fan of the mustache, so she swiped left into the ball pit. 

The next two guys went the same way. Luis, a blonde from San Diego who was wearing a baggy sweatshirt jumped into the ballpit, followed by Max from Seattle. Corden was keeping the audience laughing, encouraging the drama of it all, but Lily was still nervous, not comfortable in front of the camera and blushing. By the time the fourth guy, Regan, walked onto the stage, she was feeling more comfortable, laughing and cracking jokes along with Corden as she sent Regan to sit in one of the chairs. He wasn’t particularly attractive, but seemed to be nice and was dressed smartly in glasses, slacks, and a button-up shirt. Alec from Denver sat next to Regan, and then the sixth walked out. He was dressed in black jeans, a black shirt, and a sharp jean jacket. He ran a hand through his unruly hair, shoved his hands in his pockets, and grinned. 

Lily blushed, hard. The man introduced himself as James, from England, as if his accent didn’t make it obvious enough. If he wasn’t already attractive, having someone from the same country would have easily made him the best candidate for the date. She swiped right, and he sat next to Regan and Alec. 

Corden let her ask one question of each of them, so after debating for a minute, she asked something basic to maybe feel out each guy better. She loved being busy, and hated being cooped up inside. She had been in past relationships where her boyfriend had just wanted to watch movies, and she had hated it. Regan said that he preferred to stay inside and reading, so that was a definite no. Alec said he liked trying new foods and going to the bar, which she was fine with and felt that they could maybe have at least something to talk about on a date. Then, James was next. He said he loved hiking, playing football - English football, he clarified - and hanging out with friends. 

Her choice was already made before Corden even asked her to choose, but she was finally feeling more comfortable, so she asked the audience before she picked James.

James made his way to the front as the other two guys fell into the ball pit, and gave her a quick hug. He was at least a foot taller than her, and smelled lightly of vanilla. If she wasn’t already in heaven, she was now. Corden kicked them off, sending them on their (sponsored) date. 

Although the show aired at night, they filmed during the afternoon, so when they stepped outside, the sun was still high in the sky, burning brightly. Two camera crews followed them, which would have been awkward enough, but Lily knew all of them, so it made it even more awkward. James took her hand, leading her towards a black car. Luckily, the crews didn’t follow them into the car, but there was a camera attached to the dashboard, with a red light showing it was already recording. 

“So you really didn’t know this was coming?” James asked. Lily laughed. “No idea. I’ve only been working for Corden for a few months. I’m in charge of logistics, you know, managing guests and schedules and little details. I’ve never been filmed before.”

James nodded and pulled out of the parking spot. His hair was ruffled again, and he stuck his fingers in it. “So, uh, I thought we’d just go to a little cafe for a late lunch, and then maybe walk along the beach for a bit? I wasn’t entirely sure what you would like to do so…”

Lily grinned. “Sounds good.”

They made light conversation until they pulled up next to a small French restaurant. Once inside, it took them a second to warm back up once the cameras followed them in, but eventually slipped back into an easy conversation. They made a great pair - both of them were English and had grown up in the same town, loved the show friends, hated pickles, and loved Manchester United. By the time they finished lunch, both of them were blushing and flirting nonstop, loving the sparks that flew everytime they brushed hands. 

The restaurant wasn’t far from the beach, so they walked the short distance, then slipped off their shoes and walked along the shore, letting the warm sand seep in between their toes. The weather was perfect. Not too cold, like in England, and not too hot, like it normally was in LA. 

Their fingers had “accidentally” brushed too many times for Lily to ignore it any longer, so finally, she grabbed his hand and walked a little closer to him. He didn’t say anything, instead flashing her a brief smile. A few minutes later, James had her roaring with laughter as he told her of how he managed to get a car into his university library, and he cracked up when she told him about how she had accidentally elbowed the prime minister of England in the face. 

They eventually wandered back up to the restaurant and walked along the rows of small tourist shops. The camera crews still walked behind them, filming their every move, and James and Lily began to plot ways to sneak away from them as they bought ice cream from a vendor along the street. Their best idea so far was to throw their ice cream on the cameras, and then run like hell to the car. 

It had been almost four hours since they had left on their date, and Lily knew the camera crew was tired from carrying the heavy equipment in the heat. The sun was setting, and from their table outside, they could see it sinking into the ocean in purple and pink colors. She finished her cone and then grinned at James. “Ready?” He downed the last of his ice cream, ran his hands through his hair and nodded. They stood up slowly, not wanting to draw attention yet, walked through the door, and then took off in a mad dash down the street. They weaved between throngs of people, dodging carts and vendors, clutching hands tightly.

When they finally reached the car, they were both slightly sweaty and out of breath, but the cameras were gone. Lily leaned back against the car, laughing as James pretended to hide behind the rear of the car. They stood there for a minute, in a comfortable silence, until Lily spoke. “I’m glad Corden signed me up for this,” She said, glancing at James. He merely nodded in response and took a step closer to her. “I’m not usually in front of the camera, but maybe…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence. James pressed a light kiss to her lips, and then pulled back as if he wasn’t sure he should continue. Normally, Lily didn’t kiss of the first date - especially after just meeting the guy- but James was attractive, well-mannered, entertaining, and shared her interests, so when he pulled away, she slide her hands up his (toned) arms and pulled him back in so that she was pressed against the car. This time, the kiss was electric, with bursts of sparks flying up and down her as he moved his hands from her waist, up her back, and to her hair and shoulders. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach him, and he was slightly bent at the waist, but she couldn’t care less, because kissing him felt amazing. She was going to have to tell Corden that he could set her up on all her dates from now on - although judging from the way this was going, she wasn’t going to need any more dates. 

Distantly, she could hear the camera men arrive, breathing hard, and pulling out their cameras to film, so she grabbed James and pulled him into the car, laughing. He kissed her quickly again before pulling out of the parking space and into the street. 

“Does Corden expect you back at work?” James asked teasingly. Lily slid out her mobile and thumbed through the texts messages until she found one from Corden. Stay out as long as you need, it said, followed by a long string of winky smiley faces. She didn’t reply, instead saying cheekily, “Nah, I guess he’s got it covered. How about we continue that kiss?”

“Ah, Evans, you gotta know I don’t put out on the first date.”

Lily grinned as he pulled over to the side of the road and into an empty parking lot, and turned off the cameras in the car. “Good. Neither do I.” He parked the car and then leaned over, kissing her deeply. It was dark, so even if the cameramen found them, the kiss wouldn’t be recorded. 

Eventually, Lily went back to work after James dropped her off, to finish her schedule for the next day. She was used to long days, and even if this had been better (much better) than most, both of them still had work early the next morning and knew they would regret it if they stayed out too long.

Corden wouldn’t let her watch the video of the date until after he had released it on youtube, so she had no say in what went into it. The final clip was of James and Lily making out against the car, then of the two of them driving away, and finally, a clip of James Corden, dressed in a suit and tie, reacting to the final kiss dramatically, with tears in his eyes. 

Lily sent the video to James a few minutes later, with a row of smiley faces. 

He sent a simple text back. date this friday @ 7:00? ;)) xxx


End file.
